Should obesity be labelled a disease?

Goddard said: “It is important to the health of the nation that we remove the stigma associated with obesity.

“It is not a lifestyle choice caused by individual greed, but a disease caused by health inequalities, genetic influences and social factors.”

But not everyone agrees. This morning on ‘Good Morning Britain’ the debate was ignited once again.

In a discussion about whether obesity should be labelled a disease weight loss expert Steve Miller said we have to get much stronger on fat: “We are normalising fat, now we’re saying it’s a disease. It is a great excuse to give people and it’s a dangerous thing to say,” he said.

“Don’t we need a bit of fat-shaming,” interjecting Piers Morgan. “We have the worst obesity rates in Europe. We have a lot of fat people with a lot of sedentary fat people and now the debate is moving away from come on get off the coach, get fit eat healthy, to lets find an excuse, lets label it a disease.”